Turning trash into electricity
Ameren Missouri is turning trash into electricity.
The utility company announced today that it has opened Maryland Heights Renewable Energy Center, the largest facility in Missouri and one of the largest in the country.
Ameren Missouri’s Maryland Heights Renewable Energy Center runs on a simple principle: taking something nobody wants, decomposing trash, and turning it into something everybody needs – reliable, environmentally-responsible electricity.
This facility, located in a neighborhood off Interstate 70 in St. Louis County, is one of the largest landfill gas-to-electricity generating energy centers in the United States and the largest in Missouri.
“By turning garbage into green energy, this is a win for the environment, a win for our customers, and a win for the state,” says Ozzie Lomax, manager, Renewables and Combustion Gas Turbine Operations. “The landfill gas we burn to generate electricity was previously wasted and now we’re turning it into affordable renewable power for 10,000 average Missouri homes.”
“The Maryland Heights Renewable Energy Center is just one way Ameren Missouri is focused on securing Missouri’s energy future,” says Warner Baxter, chairman, president and CEO of Ameren Missouri. “We are continually reviewing and pursuing opportunities to increase our renewable generation capabilities. This project is a very big step toward integrating renewables into our generation fleet.”
Many renewable resources are intermittent; the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. The landfill gas, methane, is available regardless of weather or other conditions, making it a renewable energy source for decades to come.
“In developing this project, we were able to overcome the issue of intermittency, as well as adding one of the more economical forms of renewables to our generation fleet,” says Bill Barbieri, manager, Ameren Missouri Renewable Energy. “This local facility allows us to provide our customers with the safe, reliable power they expect from us 24/7.”
Ameren Missouri began construction of the Maryland Heights Renewable Energy Center in 2010 after partnering with Fred Weber in 2009 (later IESI/Progressive Waste Solutions in 2011) to purchase methane gas from the landfill. The first megawatt-hour of renewable electricity from the facility was generated in May 2012. Ameren Missouri has invested millions of dollars in state-of-the-art turbine technology to efficiently generate approximately 15 megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity by burning methane. Thick concrete walls reduce noise pollution and low-emission turbines don’t require tall smoke stacks to remove waste from emissions.
